Six pro-EU campaign groups have moved into a new shared office to better co-ordinate their Brexit fightback attempts.
Open Britain, the European Movement, Britain for Europe, Scientists for EU, Healthier IN the EU, and InFacts - which represent a combined 500,000 people - will now be based under the same roof in London’s Millbank Tower, in what staff have dubbed ‘Grassroots Co-ordinating HQ’.
It is hoped the move will allow strategists to better co-ordinate their battle to keep strong links between Britain and the European Union, alongside the All-Party Parliamentary Group on European Relations, chaired by Conservative MP Anna Soubry and Labour’s Chuka Umunna.
Other groups, including youth campaigners Our Future Our Choice, will also use the new hub as a base for some of their operations.
Umunna, who wants the UK to remain in the single market, told HuffPost UK: “In our democracy, it is vital that the people get their say on Brexit, rather than their elected representatives in Parliament being reduced to some rubber stamp for whatever plan Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Gove have been putting together behind closed doors.
“The creation of ‘Project GCHQ’ is a major step forward in ensuring grassroots campaigning organisations, who represent hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country, are now working together, in cooperation, to ensure the public’s voice is heard in the Brexit debate.”
The office is based on the first floor of the iconic Westminster building - almost exactly at the mid-point between where Labour ran their winning campaigns of 1997 and 2001 and where the Conservatives were based for the campaign that returned them to office in 2010.
Open Britain executive director James McGrory said: “The very name Millbank Tower conjures up memories of some of the most effective and revolutionary political campaigning of the last three decades.
“Our battle is as tough as that faced by parties excluded from office for 18 or 13 years. But we are every bit as determined to succeed in our task.
“Project GCHQ is not the first step in that journey, but it is the biggest so far.”